I don’t know how many of you park in the Stewart Street Garage across from Church here on Sundays. With the voucher you can get from Frances, it’s a great deal. In recent months, I’ve taken to parking on the west side up a few extra loops, because from there I can get a better view of the construction that took away our very convenient surface parking lot, and, sadly, will rob us of some of our glorious morning light here at Christ Our Hope.
In Saint John Paul II's encyclicals, speeches and other writings he used the term new evangelization. What is he referring to and what are characteristics of this new evangelization'?
Easter Sunday is a tough act to follow. A crucified Christ rising from the tomb. More alive than ever before, crying out “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Today’s Gospel reminds us that the story of the resurrection begins with an empty tomb, with Mary Magdalene who weeps not just because Jesus has died, but because she believes someone has taken his body from the tomb. So Peter and the beloved disciple run to the tomb and see the burial cloths there. They see and believe.
At the end of this long day of waiting, we celebrate the mother of all liturgies, a true feast for the senses. The church gathers in darkness and lights a new fire and a great candle that will make this night bright for us. It is here that the scriptures intersect with our lives most powerfully.
Each year on Good Friday we read the Passion according to St. John. As we contemplate the mystery of Jesus crucified, we are invited to realize the tragedy of Jesus’ suffering and death in the context of our own trials, sorrows, and deaths. The types of things that Jesus endured during his Passion are endured today by men, women and children across the globe: persecution, torture, imprisonment and execution by the state.
You can eat your way through the gospels with Jesus! He’s part of many meals throughout the four gospels: with Levi and his business colleagues, with Simon the Pharisee, with Lazarus and his sisters in Bethany, with Zacchaeus and the crowd in Jericho, with outcasts and centurions, with crowds on Galilean hillsides, and with disciples in their homes.